I'VE NEVER WORKED WITH A CRAFT BEER MARKETING AGENCY BEFORE, WHERE DO I START?

RFP TEMPLATE FOR CRAFT BEER MARKETING PARTNER

Things you should consider in your request for proposal

Table of Contents                                                             

• The Opportunity

• Requirements

• Company Overview and Background

• Marketing Program Goals

• Scope of Work

• Proposal Elements

• RFP Timeline and Next Steps

The Opportunity

Please describe the opportunity/challenges at hand.

Example:

ABC Brewery is seeking a consumer-focused marketing communication partner with experience in craft beer communications, branding, media relations and content marketing. Initial engagement with marketing partner will commence in January 2020 and last 12 months, with the intent being to find a long-term partner to grow with.

While this program will primarily focus on increasing awareness of our brand and products with locals and tourists, we’re also trying to elevate our marketing program to the next level and increase customer engagement and sales per customer.

Requirements

Please share any requirements you have for your marketing partner here.

Example:

• Required:

  • Strong understanding of craft beer industry

  • Ability to “talk beer” and translate brewer speak to consumer speak

  • Experience with leading marketing strategy development and execution

  • Ability to execute on a content marketing program

• Nice-to-haves:

  • Experience with B2C influencer marketing

  • Media relations experience

  • Experience driving buzz and engagement around product launches

• Desired working relationship:

  • Collaborative. We want an agency to operate as a strategic extension of our marketing team.

  • Proactive. We want an agency to bring us ideas and participate in the development of strategy -- not wait for us to tell them what to do.

  • Accountable. We want a team that is able to hold themselves and us accountable, leveraging reporting and insights to drive future marketing decisions.

  • Fun! We want to be able to enjoy working with our marketing partner.

Brewery Overview & Background

Please provide a comprehensive overview of your craft brewery, brand and background of where you’re currently at with your marketing strategy and programs. The more information and insights you can provide, the better the proposal will be.

Example:

Founded in 2016, ABC Brewery is the town’s first craft brewery. In the middle of suburbia, we are a community-centric brewery that produces drinkable beers for thirsty locals and craft beer enthusiasts. We operate on a 15 bbl system and self-distribute on approximately 150 accounts. Our taproom sales are where we see the most margin, and are the “gateway” to increasing demand for our beers in this area.

Our brand is founded on being approachable, innovative, customer-focused and kind. We execute on a number of community service events and sponsorship opportunities throughout the year and lead an annual holiday event that benefits a local orphanage. We’re very family-friendly and have an excellent outdoor space for kiddos to enjoy alongside their parents. We want our customers to feel at home when they walk through our doors and leave with a beer to enjoy in their own home.

We do a little bit of social advertising throughout the year, mainly surrounding strategic events and product launches. Additionally, we have a somewhat engaged social following on Instagram and Facebook but would like to explore ways of increasing that engagement or even tying those activities to sales. Right now, I would say our social and content strategies are a bit lacking and there is opportunity to improve both in terms of branding and sophistication.

We have been on a growth journey with our marketing program the last few years and have come to a place where we’re ready for more. We’re strapped for bandwidth internally and it’s becoming increasingly important that we level up before some outside economic influences come to play (construction, new attraction, etc). We’ve been completely out of the PR game for a year now, and leadership have noticed our name missing from media we used to have strong relationships with. In our place, they’re seeing our competitors’ names and products. Because of this, there’s also an increased desire to include PR in our marketing plan.

Our team is charged with leading the effort to identify a strategic marketing partner to help us create and execute a strategy with social media, media relations, thought leadership and content marketing (if applicable).

We have $60,000 to devote to strategy creation, media relations, sponsored content opportunities, etc. There could be some opportunity to add to that if it’s specific to a product launch or special initiative.

Marketing Program Goals

Please add any objectives or goals you’d like this marketing program to achieve. Additional high-level business objectives are helpful as well.

Example:

Marketing program objectives:

• Refresh brand and marketing strategies

• Increase customer engagement in social

• Grow brand awareness and increase ABC Brewery’s share of voice in strategic local media publications.

• Drive local signups to ABC Brewery’s weekly newsletter list

• Position ABC Brewery as a thought leader in the regional area

High level 2020 business objectives:

• Increase taproom sales by 12%

• Secure 30 additional accounts

• Improve supply chain efficiencies

• Evaluate taproom expansion

Scope of Work

Please list out what can be accomplished in house vs what you’d like to see supported in one way or another by your marketing partner.

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Example:

• Budget: $60,000 – 2019 (potential for additional spend for product-launch specific activities)

• In-house capabilities not to be included:

  • Graphic design

  • Community management of social channels

  • Event management

  • Sales enablement

• Marketing agency

  • Strategy refresh

  • Brand activations

  • Content creation

  • Media relations

  • Authoring press releases

  • Authoring blogs

  • Authoring newsletter articles

  • Major tradeshow assistance

  • Thought leadership articles

Proposal Elements

Please include all desired elements of this proposal - what would you like to see highlighted?

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Example:

• Brief description of your agency

• List of the proposed team members who would be assigned, including biographies and level of participation in the account

• Description of recommended program elements and evaluation criteria

• Your billing/contract structure/detailed budget

RFP Timeline & Next Steps

Please contact (insert name) if you have questions or need clarification on RFP.

Your email here

Your phone number here

Please outline your timeline for this RFP and decision-making process below.